Health and Community Services
July 2, 2015

Minister Responds to Occurrences at Western and Central Health

The Honourable Steve Kent, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Community Services, issued this statement today following the two recent occurrences at Western Health and Central Health.

“Our government is concerned about the two recent occurrences at Western and Central Health. Occurrences such as these create undue stress on individuals and their families, and we understand that this may generate concern within the community.

“Western Health and Central Health have both confirmed that all physicians have been notified and appropriate follow-up with patients is happening.

“The Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) have instituted quality assurance processes and a safety culture within their organizations. The quality assurance processes used by the RHAs are reliable and safe, and RHAs are expected to regularly review their information technology systems. When incidents like this occur, it provides an opportunity to share lessons learned and make improvements across all regions. We will continue to assess all information systems and processes, electronic and otherwise, to be certain that this error does not happen again.

“In the interest of public health and safety, we are committed to keeping the public informed when these types of incidents arise. I encourage individuals to ensure they also follow up with their health care providers regarding the outcome of any diagnostic tests they may have had.”

Minister Kent will also be available to members of the media tomorrow morning (Wednesday, July 22) at 10:00 a.m. The availability will be held in Boardroom 3 of the Department of Health and Community Services, West Block, Confederation Building.

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Media contact:
Tina Williams
Director of Communications
Department of Health and Community Services
709-729-1377, 728-2837
tinawilliams@gov.nl.ca

2015 07 21      5:10 p.m.